(Yep, it’s been over three months since I blogged so let me apologize for that first and foremost. New year, new resolution — we’ll see how I do!)
The big news: at the end of November, I gave birth to a baby boy, Kai. Throughout the 10-month stretch, I remained pretty quiet about my pregnancy in terms of my illnesses. As you can imagine, we — my husband and I — were cautiously optimistic going into everything and only made the decision to try for a baby after many tests and gaining the consent of many doctors. Knock on wood, everything went incredibly well. Kai was born at full term weighing 8 lbs 3 oz, 22.75 inches (very tall!) and his Apgar score was near perfect.
Over the next few months of maternity leave, it is my hope to reflect upon the experience of going through pregnancy and childbirth being “high-risk” and maintaining my health while remaining on Cimzia. For any of you wondering, Cimzia is a class B drug (in the same category as Benadryl and Pepcid).
I’m also involved in a study with Cimzia + pregnancy and have already received some of the results from the first round of tests. Here’s the initial great news and I’ll share more as I receive it: a blood draw of the baby’s blood just after birth (literally, minutes after birth), as well as the cord blood, showed no traces of Cimzia. My own blood showed very low traces of the drug, but I wasn’t so concerned with my own draw as you can imagine.
When making the decision to remain on Cimzia, I’d been told that because of the size of the molecules in the drug, it would not cross the placenta. It wasn’t until I was informed of the results of my own tests that I truly believed it. To say I was relieved would be the understatement of the century.
As always, it’s important to know that I’m not a doctor by any stretch of the imagination. I am however a very resourceful and proactive patient. During my pregnancy I was constantly searching for examples of women who’d had babies while on Cimzia and did not uncover much. So if you’ve found this post because you too are searching for answers, please feel free to reach out to me directly and I can hopefully point you in the right direction!
Happy new year Chronic Stylers and stay tuned.
7 replies on “Pregnancy, childbirth, and the whole shebang”
This was very helpful to me! I was recently diagnosed with Chrons and my husband and I really want children. I am starting Cimzia in the next couple days and have huge concerns about getting pregnant while on it. So thank you for sharing:)
Hello, I am going to be starting Cimzia soon and we are ttc, im currently waiting to test and to start the cimzia. I have UC and no other meds have worked to put me into remission except prednisone, which is unrealistic to stay on permanently. It is great reading your blog and having hope that the cimzia will not affect my future pregnancies or babies. how is everything going now? Thanks!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I’ve been researching Cimzia vs. 6-mp all night and your post instantly calmed me and I am not terrified of starting Cinzia while also starting a family.
Thank you so very much for sharing your experience.
This was so helpful, I have been in cimzia and was told when I was ready to conceive that this would be the best option. However, when I became pregnant I got very nervous and scared to take my next injection just being at 5 weeks pregnant. This helped reassure a little. D
Hey Katie I was wondering when did you stop your Cimzia injections prior to giving birth or did you continue? I am 35 weeks now and am debating on making this my last injection. My RA doc thinks I should keep using it up to birth but the info out there is not great…even contacting the manufacturer.
Niki! Massive apologies for missing this. I took my last injection pre-birth as scheduled (I believe it was 2 or 3 weeks before my son was born).
Massive congratulations on your baby boy he’s gorgeous!! This has been so helpful ive been using Cimzia for 2 years now for arthritis and am going to be speaking with my specialist soon about getting pregnant on it but wanted to hear a mums side too. It’s really reasuring and Im so pleased you’ve done this blog. I had my first son when I didn’t have arthritis 7 years ago so it’s a little daunting thinking of getting pregnant on treatment but Im so glad it all worked out well for you. Hopefully more mums will tell their story in time and help people using cimzia to feel more comfortable. X